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Ciência Viva

The Ciência Viva (CV) Organisation is the national agency for science education and scientific culture. It was created in 1996 to be the Portuguese government body for the mainstreaming of inquiry oriented science teaching. In 1998, Ciência Viva became a not-for-profit association of 11 of the most important scientific research institutions in the country. In 2002, Ciencia Viva was selected as one of the five most successful case studies in SiS, and the European Commission described it as ‘an open programme, promoting alliances and fostering autonomous actions’ (European Commission, 2002: 10). A sociological study of Ciência Viva (Costa et al., 2005) depicts it as a ‘social movement’, in the sense that it involves diverse social actors joined together by a common cause and aiming to stimulate and support social change (2005: 114). Since 1997 it has also led the creation of a national network of 20 science centres across the country, the largest in Europe, conceiving them not only as public engagement sites and science informal learning environments, but also as regional scientific, cultural and economic development platforms, taking advantage of the most active and innovative actors in these regions.

MARCH (MAking science Real in SCHools) project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.